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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/29870583">Oh, so this is your fault?</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/NoTearsFalling/pseuds/NoTearsFalling'>NoTearsFalling</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Merlin causes chaos [2]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Merlin (TV)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Crack, Everyone Loves Merlin, Everyone knows about Merlin’s magic, Gaius is So Done (Merlin), Good Mordred (Merlin), Good Morgana (Merlin), I lied he’s actually a huge shit, Lancelot has plausible deniability, Lancelot is So Done, Let Lancelot say fuck 2021, Merlin causes problems because he can, Merlin is So Done (Merlin), Merlin is a Little Shit, Swearing, actually he just pretends to have amnesia about anything related to Merlin, bless these dumb boys, but he does, but unfortunately Lancelot and Mordred have custody of them most of the time, everyone thinks Merlin doesn’t know that they know about his magic, except for Arthur and the knights, he’s convinced Mordred and Morgana to join him in his gremlin ways, it takes a bit of course but they get there, the knights of the round table all have two brain cells, to be fair you’d swear too if you had to put up with this shit</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-03-06</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-03-06</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-16 01:53:29</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>5,565</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/29870583</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/NoTearsFalling/pseuds/NoTearsFalling</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Merlin lifted an eyebrow. “I’m going to use magic.”<br/>“You really don’t have to!” Mordred said desperately.<br/>Merlin smirked<sup>TM</sup>. “No, I’m gonna.”</p>
<p>Or: Merlin has been slowly revealing his magic over the first year of Arthur’s reign to the castle’s occupants in order to show them magic can be good. They haven’t told Arthur or the knights of the round table, but they also haven’t had the decency to tell him they know. So Merlin decides to mess with them a little… and drag two other magic users with him.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Gaius &amp; Merlin (Merlin), Knights of the Round Table &amp; Merlin (Merlin), Lancelot &amp; Merlin (Merlin), Merlin &amp; Arthur Pendragon (Merlin), Merlin &amp; Mordred (Merlin), Merlin &amp; Morgana (Merlin), Merlin (Merlin) &amp; Everyone, Mordred &amp; Morgana (Merlin)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Merlin causes chaos [2]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/2196129</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>35</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>488</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Oh, so this is your fault?</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Somehow I only just watched Merlin at the end of 2020? And I’ve missed so much?? But the fandom isn’t dead, so that’s cool. This fic is purely self indulgent because I wanted to see Merlin cause a little chaos. Don’t believe any of his innocent looks because he knows exactly what he’s doing.</p>
<p>Also some background for this fic: It’s set in a world where Morgana and Mordred are good, Lancelot lives, and Arthur has been king for a year with Gwen at his side. He hasn’t actively hunted down magic, but he hasn’t changed anything because he doesn’t know about anyone’s magic. I live for the Terrible Trio that is Merlin, Mordred, and Morgana.</p>
<p>Enjoy!</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“<em>Mer</em>lin, you incompetent fool. For once in your life could you go a single banquet without spilling the wine?” Arthur Pendragon, king of Camelot, sat at the head of the most recent banquet, rubbing his forehead in frustration. To his right, Gwen, queen of Camelot, rubbed his back in consolation while simultaneously sharing a ‘what can you do’ look with Merlin as he mopped up the mess with the towel on his arm. Morgana, sat at Arthur’s left, smirked into her cup. Arthur had that coming to him, the prat.</p>
<p>Merlin rolled his eyes at Morgana before giving the slightest little smirk that was gone in a blink. If Morgana hadn’t been looking directly at him in that exact moment, she wouldn’t have seen it. But having seen it, Morgana—one of the most feared noble ladies in the land, and certainly the most feared princess since Arthur had officially declared her his sibling—blanched.</p>
<p>The naive soul would wonder why Morgana, badass as she was, would possibly be concerned about Merlin’s smirk. The answer was simple really. That was Merlin’s Troublemaker Smirk<sup>TM</sup>, not to be confused with Merlin’s normal quick banter with the King. No, this meant that Merlin was Planning Something, and that usually meant he was planning something with <em>magic</em>, aka: a recipe for disaster.</p>
<p>“My apologies, <em>sire</em>.” Merlin said, not sounding at all apologetic, “I didn’t mean to cause such a mess, only I couldn’t help be distracted by your ability to unhinge your jaw enough to scarf down all that food. I was worried about your belts you see.”</p>
<p>Morgana did not see how this had anything to do with magic, and that, if anything, made her even more worried. Arthur, for his part, sputtered in offence, “MERLIN! I’m fighting fit you idiot! And that’s no way to talk to your king!”</p>
<p>Merlin continued absentmindedly, as if he hadn’t heard him. Morgana would have been impressed at his acting if she wasn’t waiting for the other shoe to drop. “It reminded me a bit of a snake you see, and I thought, <em>My what I wouldn’t give for a talent like that!</em>”</p>
<p>Arthur’s face grew gradually redder. Normally this would be the exact moment where Morgana would insert some quip such as, <em>Oh Merlin, don’t you know Arthur doesn’t have any talents?</em> just to rile him up. But she knew better to do that in this instance, when she knew that Merlin’s end goal <em>was</em> to rile him up. Oh no, she would not be caught aiding and abetting the Troublemaker Smirk<sup>TM</sup> even if it killed her.</p>
<p>It turned out though that her lack of action meant nothing in the long run as precisely ten seconds later Arthur burst out, “And what talents do you have, <em>Mer</em>lin?”</p>
<p>Merlin, damn him, <em>grinned</em>. “Well sire, I am particularly talented at juggling if you recall.</p>
<p>“Yeah right, you’re so clumsy I bet that was just luck.” Arthur scowled before his face transformed into a smug look, “Why don’t you give us another show, if you’re so certain that you can do that.”</p>
<p>Merlin smiled demurely, a look that should never be seen on his face if Morgana had anything to say about it. “Oh, I don’t know about that.”</p>
<p>“Oh no, I insist. Consider it an order from your king.” Arthur’s smug look grew, sure that he had gotten one over on his servant. As if Merlin ever took his orders seriously. If he had even one brain cell that should have been the only clue he needed that Merlin was Up To Something.</p>
<p><em>But noooo.</em> Morgana thought in despair. <em>Curse the day Arthur actually managed to form an original thought for once.</em></p>
<p>“Merlin. <em><strong>No.</strong></em>” Morgana hissed, grabbing his arm as Merlin set the pitcher down and made to walk behind her around the table.</p>
<p>“Merlin, <em>yes</em>.” Merlin grinned brightly and pulled his arm out of her grip, making his way around the table. Then in a last <em>fuck you</em>, he made direct eye contact with her as his eyes flashed gold and five eggs appeared in his palms.</p>
<p>Arthur, the asshole, was looking away at that exact second and didn’t see. Morgana fumed silently to herself, <em>I’m going to kill you, Emrys. I swear to the gods someday I’m going to do it.</em></p>
<p>The next <em>twenty</em> minutes included Merlin juggling his <em>stupid</em> eggs in increasingly dramatic ways. Every so often his eyes would subtly flash gold, and everytime Morgana would glance around in a panic to see if anyone noticed. No one <em>seemed</em> to, Arthur certainly didn’t in anycase, but if this went on any longer, Morgana was going to have a heart attack.</p>
<p>Finally, <em>finally</em>, Merlin quit the dramatics and bowed to the room as the feasting nobles and knights, and the servants which lined the walls, cheered and clapped for him. He grinned cheekily up at Arthur and had the audacity to wink at Morgana as the eggs disappeared up into his sleeves where <em>there was no room to hold them</em>.</p>
<p>Arthur clapped while shaking his head at his servant, “I don’t know how you do it, Merlin, but somehow you still manage to surprise me every so often. We don’t even have eggs on the table. How did you do that?”</p>
<p>Merlin smirked, “Ah, but I can’t tell you that sire. A sorcerer never reveals his secrets, but if you want a hint, it was magic.”</p>
<p>Arthur rolled his eyes at him, and it was all Morgana could do to keep her jaw from dropping to the floor. She knew her brother was stupid, but she didn’t think he was <em>this</em> stupid. “Well, I suppose you’ve proved your point then. Perhaps you <em>occasionally</em> manage to have talents, but wipe that smirk off your face and get over here. We still have the rest of the feast to get through, and don’t think I’ve let you off the hook for spilling wine all over the table. You’ll still be scrubbing it up at the end of the feast if I have anything to say about it.”</p>
<p>That was it really. The evening passed without incident from then on except when Merlin would occasionally catch Morgana’s eye and give her that lip quirk that wasn’t quite a smirk or a smile but was just as expressive of his smugness as both of them.</p>
<p>It wasn’t until a few days later that Morgana caught him walking down a hallway, juggling three of Arthur’s goblets and whistling that she thought to ask, “Wait, why aren’t your eyes glowing right now?”</p>
<p>Merlin shrugged, “Oh, I don’t need magic to juggle. I learned how to do that years ago.”</p>
<p>Merlin didn’t even pause or glance at Morgana as he walked past her down the hall, continuing to whistle some made up tune. Morgana stared after him in disbelief. <em>That fucker.</em></p>
<p> </p><p> </p>
<p>If someone had told Mordred that his dream of becoming a knight under King Arthur’s reign would involve less brave heroics in battle and more chasing after the aforementioned king’s servant to <em>stop him from whatever bullshit he’s pulling now</em>, he wouldn’t have believed them. What made it worse was that said servant was <em>Emrys himself</em>. What made it even worse—because oh yeah <em>surprise</em> it got worse now—was that Emrys listened to absolutely no one’s advice and did his own thing All. The. Time.</p>
<p>At one point Mordred had gotten desperate enough that he thought Merlin was being possessed by some kind of gremlin. Some pointed questions to Gaius, however, revealed that no, apparently that was just Merlin. Merlin wasn’t possessed by a gremlin; he just was one. Mordred was already over it. No wonder everyone said Arthur had gotten less arrogant and prideful over the years. No one’s pride could last against the sheer hurricane of stubbornness that was Merlin.</p>
<p>Which led Mordred to his current predicament, striding down the halls after Merlin. “Merlin. Merlin please. I’m sure Arthur can take care of this problem himself. What is one noble’s arrogance against the King of Camelot? He’ll take care of this, really.”</p>
<p>Merlin didn’t slow down or even glance in his direction. His hands kept clenching and unclenching into fists. “Lord Detremark was disrespectful to the staff, disrespectful to the merchants, and disrespectful to the townsfolk. But if that wasn’t enough—” here Merlin’s voice rose in pitch, “then he had the <em>audacity</em> to yell at children! And— and! If Leon hadn’t interrupted him, I bet he was going to hit them! Did you see the look in his eyes, how he lifted his hand? He deserves what’s coming to him.”</p>
<p>Mordred did not want to know what was coming to him. He grabbed Merlin’s arm to bring him to a halt, turning him around to face him. Mordred placed his hands on Merlin’s shoulders, glanced around discreetly to make sure no one was around, and dropped his voice into a whisper, “Look, Emrys, you don’t need to do this. Arthur <em>will</em> take care of this. You know him, he won’t stand for injustice.”</p>
<p>Merlin stood there for a moment, not looking at Mordred but not pulling away either. After a moment he whispered, “Arthur is a good man, but he must act as a king. Sometimes the justice people deserve is not the kind he can give.”</p>
<p>“And what kind of justice do they deserve?” Mordred asked. Merlin, he had learned, had a way of looking at the world in a way no one else did. He saw things no one else could, and Mordred had a theory that a large part of that was due to him being Emrys. He seemed to sense a balance in the world that no one else did. His answers didn’t always seem fair or nice from a human perspective, but they were <em>always</em> balanced.</p>
<p>“The kind that shows they matter.” Merlin said simply, as if that made complete sense. Maybe to him, it did. Mordred did not understand, but he did trust Merlin.</p>
<p>Mordred sighed, “Okay. I will trust you in this, but Merlin… no magic please.”</p>
<p>Merlin lifted an eyebrow. “I’m going to use magic.”</p>
<p>“You really don’t have to!” Mordred said desperately.</p>
<p>Merlin smirked<sup>TM</sup>. “No, I’m gonna.”</p>
<p>Mordred paled. Oh <em>fuck.</em></p>
<p> </p><p> </p>
<p>Unfortunately, it did not come as a surprise to Mordred when Lord Detremark turned up in the square the next morning stark naked, clucking like a chicken, and completely purple from head to toe. It did not make any sense whatsoever from a justice standpoint nor did it answer any of the questions Mordred had about how Merlin viewed the world other than <em>oddly.</em> However, when Mordred saw the castle servants smiling for the first time in weeks, and when he saw some children laughing at the man without fear of what he would do back to them, well… Mordred couldn’t find it in him to care too much about the consequences.</p>
<p>And if he snuck some particularly nasty rotten fruit to the kids from the kitchen’s disposal buckets to throw at the man, well no one had to know.</p>
<p> </p><p> </p>
<p>Morgana sighed from where she was standing on the turrets with Mordred, watching Merlin strike down some enemies with lightning in the distance. Fortunately, all the guards were on the other side of the castle dealing with some other invaders. She sighed, “So we’re gonna have to join him on his exploits to make sure he isn’t this obvious in the future, aren’t we?”</p>
<p>“Yeah, we are.” Mordred’s expression looked pained when Merlin paused in his actions momentarily to smile up at them cheekily.</p>
<p>“Oh by the way,” Morgana said with faux casualness while looking at her nails, “You know the banquet the other night where Merlin was juggling with his magic?”</p>
<p>Mordred frowned in remembrance of his flashing eyes and the worry that someone would notice. “Yeah, what about it?”</p>
<p>“Apparently he doesn’t need magic to juggle.” Morgana watched for his reaction out of the corner of her eye.</p>
<p>Mordred’s eyes widened dramatically before narrowing angrily at the figure below them, “That <em>fucker</em>.”</p>
<p> </p><p> </p>
<p>When Lancelot opened the door to the armory in the middle of the afternoon, expecting it to be empty, he was sadly disappointed. He entered to see Merlin, Mordred, and Morgana sitting on benches they had pulled to face one another and were currently huddled with foreheads pressed together. They were whispering—<em>oh gods no</em>—and Merlin had a book filled with writing and symbols that Lancelot didn’t recognize. As he opened the door, Merlin, Mordred, and Morgana looked up at him with identical looks of innocence on their faces.</p>
<p>Lancelot stared at them.</p>
<p>They stared back.</p>
<p>He blinked.</p>
<p>They blinked back.</p>
<p>Lancelot was not paid enough for this. He lifted a finger and pointed an accusing finger at them, “I wasn’t here. I didn’t see shit.”</p>
<p>With that, Lancelot did an immediate about-turn and left the room. He did not hear the resumed whispering behind him because he had never entered the armory in the first place. No sir.</p>
<p> </p><p> </p>
<p>“Gaius!” Merlin grinned happily, suspiciously hiding something behind his back.</p>
<p>“Problem child.” Gaius muttered, stepping past him into his physician’s chambers. He held up his hand to stop Merlin from speaking. “Whatever you’ve done this time, I don’t want to hear it. Just… just go.”</p>
<p>Merlin nodded his head rapidly and backed out of the room quickly, still holding whatever he had behind his back. Gaius leaned his forehead on his hand for a moment. What had he ever done to deserve this?</p>
<p> </p><p> </p>
<p>“Is that man tied up?” Lancelot asked.</p>
<p>Mordred stepped to the left once. It did absolutely nothing to hide the man who lay there bound with rope and gagged with what looked to be Merlin’s scarf despite the fact that Merlin was suspiciously absent. The man stared at Lancelot with wide, pleading eyes. Lancelot did not make eye contact.</p>
<p>Morgana stared him dead in the eyes, “No.”</p>
<p>Lancelot nodded and turned to leave. “Yeah, that’s what I thought.”</p>
<p> </p><p> </p>
<p>Two guards, one dark-haired and one fair-haired, stood at their posts outside the royal vaults in the earliest hours of the morning. Normally one would think that this would be exactly the hour where guarding would be at its most boring, but they knew from experience that this was exactly the time of the day when Suspicious Incidents happened. They were rewarded for keeping their guard up when they heard someone stumble in the darkness in front of them and curse.</p>
<p>“Halt! Who goes there!” The guards held out their torches suspiciously. The light landed on the king’s manservant, Merlin.</p>
<p>He smiled back at them happily. “Aldric! Patrick! If it isn’t my two favorite Rics!”</p>
<p>Aldric frowned. “What are you doing here this late at night?”</p>
<p>“Oh <em>me</em>?” Merlin asked innocently. He started to edge around the two men, “You know me, sleep walking again. How silly of me.”</p>
<p>Aldric did not point out the fact that sleepwalking people were not usually aware of that fact in the moment. Patrick did not point out the fact that Princess Morgana was walking past them on the other side, not even bothering to creep around like Merlin was doing. Both of them made extra sure not to point out that Merlin was carrying something behind his back that was definitely glowing and ominous red.</p>
<p>Instead, Patrick smiled in sympathy and made the suggestions he always did, “That sucks. You should really ask Gaius for a sleeping draught. They do wonders. Or maybe try barring your door at night?”</p>
<p>Merlin smiled brightly, positively beaming… or maybe glowing… nope nope they were not thinking about that. “Thanks Patrick, those are great ideas. I’ll definitely ask. In fact, I should probably go back to my chambers now and do just that. Bye guys!”</p>
<p>“Bye Merlin!” The two guards chorused, ignoring the fact that Merlin was definitely heading in the direction of the vaults and not his chambers.</p>
<p>Later, when Merlin shuffled by again with Princess Morgana suspiciously absent saying, “Haha oops, wrong direction. Sleepwalking, what can you do, you know?” they made no mention of it. The guards made eye contact. Yup, nothing to see here.</p>
<p>Morgana frowned in the background. She couldn’t believe they let them get away with this. She owned Merlin 20 coins for this, the bastard.</p>
<p> </p><p> </p>
<p>Lancelot was having a surprisingly good and normal day until he heard the whispers. He was walking down one of the hallways near the kitchen when he heard a few servants muttering in an adjacent corridor. Lancelot slowed down a bit, naturally curious.</p>
<p>“Did you hear…”</p>
<p>“...no really, slapped a noble…”</p>
<p>“...broke a chandelier… Merlin…”</p>
<p>No. No no no. <em>Fuck</em> this. Lancelot covered his ears with his hands and walked faster. <em>I didn’t hear anything. I didn’t hear anything. I didn’t—</em></p>
<p> </p><p> </p>
<p>The knights of the castle were doing a large group exercise when an assassin decided to attack King Arthur. How he had managed to disguise himself that long as a knight ‘visiting from Nemeth to get extra training’ was anybody’s guess. When the knights (excluding the ever oblivious knights of the round table of course) looked back on it, however, it should have been obvious as Merlin had been glaring and watching him like a hawk for the past week. Merlin was always a good judge of character.</p>
<p>It happened mid-morning. It seemed like everyone in the castle had paused their work to come see the knights practice, and that’s because almost everyone had. Unlike his father, Arthur was less likely to yell at everyone for slacking off in their duties every once in a while when he knew everyone needed a break. With the hard work everyone had been putting in over the past few weeks during the height of summer, Arthur felt they deserved some time off to cheer on their knights and raise morale.</p>
<p>The knights were taking turns sparing, when the assassin, still disguised as a knight, lifted a poisoned blade behind Arthur’s back. Before anyone could shout or even fully register the situation, the fake-knight was crumbling to the ground, his armor making a loud cacophony of metal hitting metal.</p>
<p>Arthur whipped around, everyone stilling in their movements and looking silently down at the fallen assassin. He saw the poisoned blade in his hand and stared wide-eyed. After a few moments to get his bearings, Arthur called for two of his knights to strip the man of any armor or weapons and to lock him up in the dungeon for later interrogation.</p>
<p>The knights of the round table came up to surround Arthur, Queen Gwen coming to give him a hug. Sir Elyan came to clap him on the back, “Man you’re lucky that tree branch broke off just in time to save you!”</p>
<p>Arthur nodded back at the others in disbelief, “Yeah, that was lucky for sure!”</p>
<p>Gwen lightly banged her head against Arthur’s chest in disbelief of their obliviousness. Mordred and Morgana rolled their eyes at each other. When no one was looking, Lancelot took a swig out of Gwaine’s “water” flask. The rest of the servants, knights, and nobles in the background looked away and pretended that they didn’t notice the fact that there were no trees in the clearing. And as for the manservant sitting on a barrel in the background?</p>
<p>Well, Merlin <em>grinned</em>.</p>
<p> </p><p> </p>
<p>Lancelot sat at a bar in Camelot without any of the other knights present. Yeah, he was just as surprised about this situation as anyone else, but apparently it had come to this. Drinking in a bar, pretending he didn’t know Merlin had mag— pretending he didn’t know how <em>unique</em> Merlin was. He stared down at the mug in front of him and wondered what it would take to give himself amnesia.</p>
<p>Out of the corner of his eye, Lancelot saw movement. When he turned to look, it was to see a horse floating by the window, looking bewildered at its predicament. Lancelot didn’t start in surprise. He didn’t frown. He didn’t blink.</p>
<p>Instead, he took a sip of his drink. <em>Whatever, this might as well happen.</em>* Lancelot turned his back to the window and downed the mug.</p>
<p> </p><p> </p>
<p>Cindy the maid was calmly walking down a corridor of the castle with a basket of laundry on her hip when Merlin and Sir Mordred came shooting around the corner like hell was on their heels. She stood to the side to let them pass. Before she could get her hopes up that they would leave her out of whatever was happening, they skidded to a halt in front of her, eerily in tandem.</p>
<p>Merlin smiled his normal easy grin, “Cindy! Hey there! Uh, have you seen or heard a dog anywhere?”</p>
<p>“A normal dog.” Sir Mordred inserted quickly.</p>
<p>Merlin nodded seriously, “Right. Um, a normal dog. Completely normal and not half invisible. Normal.”</p>
<p>Cindy did not want to know. She shook her head silently, too afraid to speak.</p>
<p>“Oh.” Merlin frowned. (And wasn’t <em>that</em> a concerning sentence.) He made eye contact with Mordred before locking his eyes on something in the hallway behind her. Cindy did not look back. “Haha well, I just realized I might know where it is. Silly dog. Anyway thanks for the help!”</p>
<p>Merlin and Sir Mordred inched around her before breaking into a full sprint as soon as they were past her, again eerily in tandem. Cindy kept walking and Did Not Think about what events just occurred.</p>
<p> </p><p> </p>
<p>The castle, to put it bluntly, was panicking. At precisely four minutes after the third bell yesterday afternoon, the king’s manservant, Merlin, (as if anyone had any doubt who that was), was seen smirkingTM, and nothing had happened yet. Oh yeah, although no one knew that Merlin knew that they knew that he had magic, what they <em>did</em> know was that the gods should not have given Merlin the power to smirk like that. It was unholy. It was evil. It was— <em>Did anyone else hear that?</em></p>
<p>The castle stilled. There it came again. A loud, unrecognizable screech of some sort coming from the throne room. Servants and knights and nobles alike froze to look at each other before rushing in that direction. If this was Merlin’s fault, it was probably best to stay out of the way. However, if this had to do anything with his— Well, they had only known about Merlin’s magic for a year, but if anyone tried to hurt him, they’d kill him.</p>
<p>On the training grounds, Lancelot and Gwaine also heard the screech. It was followed by a loud crash and an angry shout of, “MERLIN!!!”</p>
<p>“Should we do anything about that?” Lancelot asked, lowering his sword to glance at Gwaine.</p>
<p>Gwaine shrugged and took a sip from his flask. “I mean how much trouble can one manservant get into? It’s just Merlin.”</p>
<p>Lancelot and Gwaine froze and shared a look. Fuck, it was just Merlin.</p>
<p>They ran.</p>
<p>When the two knights arrived at the throne room, it was to see practically everyone crammed in and staring at the middle. Arthur stood in front of his throne, wide-eyed and mouth open, staring. Suddenly, the doors burst open and Merlin skidded into the room, Mordred and Morgana at his heels. He paused and stared at the ground in front of him.</p>
<p>There, in the center of the room, as if to make sure no one could miss it, was a young… white, scaly, magical <em>dragon</em>. Upon seeing Merlin, the dragon’s bright blue eyes lit up in excitement, “Daddy!”</p>
<p>Arthur pointed a finger at the dragon and shouted, “Merlin, what the FUCK did that dragon just call you?”</p>
<p>Merlin frowned at him. “Arthur don’t be crass. There are children present. And that’s clearly a lizard.”</p>
<p>Arthur’s mouth opened and closed, and his face got gradually redder. Ignoring him, Merlin whistled happily, patting his leg, and the dragon happily bounded over to him to curl around his ankles. Arthur sputtered, “That’s clearly a dragon! It has wings!”</p>
<p>“Don’t be stupid Arthur. Lizards can have wings. Haven’t you heard of lizards in the Draco genus?** They have wings.” Merlin stated matter of factly. His face was suspiciously void of expression.</p>
<p>Upon seeing that Merlin was not going to budge on this, Arthur asked in a high-pitched voice while pointing out the window, “Then what do you call <em>that</em> then!?”</p>
<p>For the first time, everyone looked out the throne room’s windows to see a large red dragon peering in. It was so large that only its head could be seen, except for its wings flaring behind it. Worst of all though, it seemed to be watching the scene in <em>amusement.</em></p>
<p>Merlin spared the dragon an unconcerned glance, “Oh that’s a very <em>big</em> lizard.”</p>
<p>“Oh god there’s <em>two of them</em>.” Lancelot muttered in the background, grabbing Gwaine’s flask right out of his hand to take a huge swig.</p>
<p>Arthur laughed with a touch of hysteria, “You just expect me to believe that?”</p>
<p>“Gaius believes me, don’t you Gaius?” Merlin asked.</p>
<p>Gaius had been sitting at the council's table this whole time. Even when the dragon had first burst into the room, screeching and scaring everyone in the vicinity, he had only sighed and looked dramatically out the window. Now though with everyone present, he was reading a book, legs propped up on another chair and thoroughly ignoring the proceedings. At Merlin’s question, he didn’t even glance up as he turned the page, “There <em>is</em> a genus of lizards with wings sire.”</p>
<p>“And is this thing part of that genus??”</p>
<p>Gaius ignored the question.</p>
<p>Mordred raised a hand, “In all fairness, sire, it does look like a very polite lizard.”</p>
<p>Arthur stared at him in disbelief. Morgana and Merlin were nodding along to his statement in sync. At that exact moment, the young dragon sneezed. Fire flew out of its mouth and lit some nearby tapestries on fire. Before anyone could panic. Merlin’s eyes flashed a brilliant, unmistakable gold, and the fire was gone. Any damages done to the tapestries were gone. Everyone stared at Merlin. He smiled innocently at Arthur.</p>
<p>Arthur stared, “Did you… did you just do magic in front of me?”</p>
<p>“Are you sure that wasn’t a trick of the light, sire?” There was an unknown glint in Merlin’s eyes.</p>
<p>Everyone continued to stare. Did he… did he really think that was going to work? One of the newer knights stepped forward. “Please sire, don’t hurt him! The castle and the townsfolk have known about his magic for a year, but he’s only ever used his magic for good, we promise! He’s used it for the defense of Camelot, for you!”</p>
<p>Around him, his fellow knights started to loudly back him up, voices rising over each other. Servants and nobles united as one to try to defend Merlin at the same time. Merlin stood there silently, dragon winding between his legs. Mordred and Morgana shared a concerned glance behind his back. Gaius turned a page in his book.</p>
<p>“QUIET!” Everyone immediately silenced themselves to look up worriedly at Arthur. He rubbed a hand to his forehead, the other playing with the ring on his finger. “Let me get this straight. My whole castle, no my whole <em>capital</em> has known that Merlin has magic since the beginning of my reign and you just let him <em>get away with it</em> without telling me? Why!?”</p>
<p>“Well because,” the knight who had first spoken up looked around as if for guidance in what to say before just shrugging helplessly, “because it’s Merlin, sire.”</p>
<p>Arthur turned to Merlin at this without comment, completely understanding the sentiment, “And you’ve just been doing magic in front of people this whole time and didn’t know they knew about it??”</p>
<p>Everyone turned to look at Merlin, expecting to see him turning pale or perhaps panicking and crying. Instead, he was smirking<sup>TM</sup>. Merlin’s smirk turned sharper, knowing the chaos his next words would cause, “Oh no, I knew. I’ve been fucking with all of you for the past year.”</p>
<p>Everyone. Rioted. People started screaming at each other, asking how long they knew about his magic, or if they knew he knew. In the background, Leon looked like a thousand obvious dots were connecting his head. Elyan looked to be having an existential crisis, especially when he noticed that his sister seemed to be unsurprised at Merlin’s words. Percival and Gwaine were grimacing at each other as if to say, <em>We’re such idiots. How did we possibly miss this?</em></p>
<p>It was Arthur’s voice that cut through the crowd though as he hysterically asked, “<em>Did you know about this!?!?</em>”</p>
<p>The knights of the round table all shook their heads in embarrassment before turning their heads to look at Lancelot who did not look surprised, only completely fed up with the situation. He glanced miserably down at Gwaine’s flask which he had already emptied before deadpanning in a monotone voice, “Oh no, Merlin has magic. What a surprise. I thought tree branches falling in the middle of an empty clearing was completely normal. What a betrayal, how will I ever cope?”</p>
<p>The other knights stared at him before Gwaine pulled out another flask and slid it over to him without comment. Lancelot took a huge pull from it right in front of everyone, not even pulling a face at its strength. As if they had all caught on to the same thought at once, everyone then turned to look at Mordred. He raised his hands, “Hey don’t look at me. I’m a druid. I have magic too, so of course I knew about him.”</p>
<p>“If this is confession time, I have magic too. Also I’m a seer.” Morgana lifted an eyebrow when everyone’s incredulous gazes turned to her, “Oh don’t act so surprised. The only reason you know about Merlin’s magic is because he made it obvious. You aren’t as observant as you think. Gaius never even stopped using magic after the purge and you didn’t even notice.”</p>
<p>Gaius lifted an eyebrow from where he sat reading his book but noticeably made no comment.</p>
<p>Arthur was starting to feel as if someone had taken a sword pommel to his brain, “So let me clarify. Everyone has known that my servant has been learning magic for a year—”</p>
<p>“Actually I was born with magic, a warlock if you will, and am apparently the most powerful magic user of all time.” Merlin interrupted while looking nonchalantly at his nails, a move he had clearly learned from Morgana. The white dragon was now curled around his shoulders.</p>
<p>Arthur took a few deep breaths and intentionally did not scream. “Right. Right. My servant was born with magic, and he’s been messing with my staff for a whole year for whatever <em>stupid</em> reason, and I can’t even bring myself to be mad because somehow this makes complete sense and you confessed to doing magic right in front of my face multiple times and <em>ohmygodhowdidimissthis</em>—”</p>
<p>Gwen, kind as she was, interrupted by putting a hand over his mouth, “You know what, how about we all just collectively take a break for the rest of the afternoon to think about what we’ve learned, hmm? I’m sure we all have a lot to think about.</p>
<p>Arthur nodded fervently, eyes wide. Merlin grinned deviously up at him, enjoying every moment. Laughing, he turned to Mordred and Morgana and said, “Oh man, if he’s shocked at this, wait until he hears about the griffin we’ve been keeping in the stables!”</p>
<p>Mordred and Morgana paled. Mordred asked, “We’ve been keeping a griffin in the stables?”</p>
<p>Merlin cocked his head to the side, “Did I not tell you about that?”</p>
<p>“No, you didn’t tell us about that!” Morgana whispered urgently.</p>
<p>Merlin paused for a moment in thought before shrugging, unconcerned, “Oops.”</p>
<p> </p><p> </p>
<p>They were whispering. Merlin, Mordred, and Morgana were fucking <em>whispering</em> during his council meeting.</p>
<p>Arthur’s eye ticked. “Stop talking during my meeting!”</p>
<p>The three stopped and turned to look at him in sync. No. <em>No no no</em>, he was <em>not</em> dealing with this shit today. He frowned at them and continued speaking but stopped when he noticed them communicating through their eyes.</p>
<p>He pointed to them. “Stop that.”</p>
<p>“We weren’t talking anymore.” Merlin pouted.</p>
<p>Arthur frowned, “Don’t try to pull that with me. I know you were talking mentally.”</p>
<p>The three sighed, before Merlin nodded in disappointment, “Okay fine, we’ll stop.”</p>
<p>For a few minutes, it was almost peaceful. Arthur resumed talking, and Merlin pulled some balls out of his pocket to juggle, eyes flashing gold. Arthur was almost annoyed enough to tell him to stop, but he knew the warlock needed something to keep his hands and mind busy. In the end, a little magic juggling was way less annoying to deal with compared to the god-forsaken <em>whispering</em> because who knew what the three magic users were planning in their little huddles.</p>
<p>Arthur knew good things couldn’t last forever, however, when he noticed the mischievous look in Morgana’s eye. Not wanting her to interrupt him and gain the upper footing, he paused his speech to ask tiredly, “What is it Morgana?”</p>
<p>Morgana’s face was a mask of virtue, “Did you know Merlin doesn’t need magic to juggle?”</p>
<p>Arthur looked over at Merlin to see him staring back at him with bright, golden eyes and The Smirk<sup>TM</sup>. Merlin winked. Arthur felt his face turn red as his eyes narrowed, “You <em>fucker</em>.”</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>*Quote shamelessly stolen from John Mulaney.<br/>**Just pretend they knew the taxonomy systems because it’s much funnier this way.</p>
<p>A fun vine scene you can imagine happens in the future:<br/>Arthur, holding a cup of mead: “Let me see what you have!”<br/>Merlin, holding up a glowing hand and running away: “Magic!”<br/>Arthur, setting his cup down to chase after him: “No!”<br/>The knights muttering in the background: “Oh my god he’s got magic.”</p>
<p>And that’s a wrap y'all. I hope this came out as funny as I was picturing in my head or else I’m going to be sorely disappointed lol.</p></blockquote></div></div>
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